WDTV Play not working with all video files using PS3 Media Server

Community Archives WD TV Play Discussions
1

I’ve been using the WDTV Play for a while now and have been frustrated while streaming from PS3 Media Server hosted from a PC and a Mac. For instance it would play one mkv file while not playing another with what seemed to be an identical video and audio CODEC. Getting the “Unable to play selected file” error. Since it does play these problem files while connected directly through a USB drive, I’m looking at the media server as at fault.

I also tried “Universal Media Server” with the same results.

After looking at a few media servers, tried the Vuze torrent client, which does have a DLNA-compliant UPnP Media Server component, albeit with a lot more clutter (including an installer that wants to hijack your browser with add-ons). This did work and played a bunch of the videos that haven’t worked (over network) before.

Went back to PS3 Media Server/Universal Media Server just to confirm, they still didn’t work. I would prefer to get either of those two working if anybody has some thoughts

By the way, these videos do play fine on the PC with media player classic and Klite codec pack as well as on the Mac with VLC installed. The two example .mkv files I used (both around 1 GB), working and not, both had the following info listed in VLC:

Video codec: H264-MPEG4 AVC(part10)(avc1)

Resolution: 1280 x 534

Frame rate: 23.976216

Decoded Format: Planar 4:2:0 YUV

Audio MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)

Stereo

Sample 48000 hz

Maybe a clue, using Real Player, the working file showed bandwidth as 24 kbps while the problem file showed 42 kbps

Thanks in advance

Pool Guy

2

Pool_Guy,

As a test for isolation, do you have additional 42 kbps files for testing? If they all present the same behavior, then it is possible for the current DLNA media server to not fully support such configuration. Codecs also include bitrate, and a high bitrate can influence performance and compatibility.

3

H264-MPEG4 AVC(part10)(avc1)

I thinks simply this format of x264 it’s not supported…post mediainfo about a file…

4

Hi DjDiabolik, Do you mean the WDTV Play or that PS3 Media Server is not supported, because as I mentioned it plays the file in question both over USB and while using a different DLNA server.

In any case, here is the MediaInfo on the problem file not working using PS3 Media Server

General

Unique ID                                : 176462790869914792780944008680558798019 (0x84C17F4F1870F007A298E1855347A4C3)

Complete name                            : /Volumes/Movies/2013/WithHeld.mkv

Format                                   : Matroska

Format version                           : Version 4 / Version 2

File size                                : 974 MiB

Duration                                 : 2h 18mn

Overall bit rate                         : 986 Kbps

Movie name                               : [Deleted]

Encoded date                             : UTC 2014-02-28 05:18:27

Writing application                      : mkvmerge v6.6.0 (‘The Edge Of The In Between’) built on Dec  1 2013 17:55:00

Writing library                          : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1

Video

ID                                       : 2

Format                                   : AVC

Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile                           : High@L4.1

Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames

Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

Duration                                 : 2h 18mn

Nominal bit rate                         : 890 Kbps

Width                                    : 1 280 pixels

Height                                   : 534 pixels

Display aspect ratio                     : 2.40:1

Frame rate mode                          : Constant

Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps

Color space                              : YUV

Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0

Bit depth                                : 8 bits

Scan type                                : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.054

Writing library                          : x264 core 135 r2 f0c1c53

Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=36 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=890 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=31250 / vbv_bufsize=31250 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Default                                  : Yes

Forced                                   : No

Color primaries                          : BT.709

Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio

ID                                       : 3

Format                                   : AAC

Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile                           : LC

Codec ID                                 : A_AAC

Duration                                 : 2h 18mn

Channel(s)                               : 2 channels

Channel positions                        : Front: L R

Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz

Compression mode                         : Lossy

Language                                 : English

Default                                  : Yes

Forced                                   : No

Text

ID                                       : 1

Format                                   : UTF-8

Codec ID                                 : S_TEXT/UTF8

Codec ID/Info                            : UTF-8 Plain Text

Title                                    :   [Deleted]

Default                                  : Yes

Forced                                   : No

Here is a working file:

General

Unique ID                                : 230607891403297719105362758153203012499 (0xAD7D76DF6A8DE460812837FDF96ED393)

Complete name                            : /Volumes/Movies/2013/WithHeld.mkv

Format                                   : Matroska

Format version                           : Version 2

File size                                : 999 MiB

Duration                                 : 2h 10mn

Overall bit rate                         : 1 070 Kbps

Movie name                               : WithHeld 3 BluRay 720p Ganool

Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-08-20 07:22:04

Writing application                      : mkvmerge v5.7.0 (‘The Whirlwind’) built on Jul  8 2012 20:08:51

Writing library                          : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Video

ID                                       : 1

Format                                   : AVC

Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile                           : High@L3.1

Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames

Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC

Duration                                 : 2h 10mn

Nominal bit rate                         : 1 004 Kbps

Width                                    : 1 280 pixels

Height                                   : 534 pixels

Display aspect ratio                     : 2.40:1

Frame rate mode                          : Constant

Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps

Color space                              : YUV

Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0

Bit depth                                : 8 bits

Scan type                                : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.061

Writing library                          : x264 core 125 r2208 d9d2288

Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1004 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Default                                  : Yes

Forced                                   : No

Audio

ID                                       : 2

Format                                   : AAC

Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile                           : HE-AAC / LC

Codec ID                                 : A_AAC

Duration                                 : 2h 10mn

Channel(s)                               : 2 channels

Channel positions                        : Front: L R

Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz / 24.0 KHz

Compression mode                         : Lossy

Language                                 : English

Default                                  : Yes

Forced                                   : No

Menu

00:00:00.000                             : en:00:00:00.000

00:04:52.751                             : en:00:04:52.751

00:07:55.433                             : en:00:07:55.433

00:12:12.440                             : en:00:12:12.440

00:19:04.101                             : en:00:19:04.101

00:23:47.885                             : en:00:23:47.885

00:29:47.703                             : en:00:29:47.703

00:39:46.384                             : en:00:39:46.384

00:45:56.045                             : en:00:45:56.045

00:59:19.639                             : en:00:59:19.639

01:01:56.922                             : en:01:01:56.922

01:09:24.452                             : en:01:09:24.452

01:18:41.508                             : en:01:18:41.508

01:23:52.945                             : en:01:23:52.945

01:37:55.995                             : en:01:37:55.995

01:56:18.305                             : en:01:56:18.305

01:59:38.755                             : en:01:59:38.755

5

In not working file i have notified this:

Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile                           : High@L4.1

You have already say have try to play this same file after copied on a USB drive and it’s working right ?

I have already watched some mkv using this same “Profile” on my WD TV Play from a my Pendrive and i have found only a file it’s not working… i thinks because it’s the profile HIGH@L4.1 it’s maximum profile compatible reported on manual and i thinks in some cases it’s simply obtain some file incompatible.

Try to recompress it using a lower profile… using the HIGH@L3.1 it’s better for obtain good quality and good for compatibility…